Cloudy headlights

I had an MOT advisory this year of "product on headlights"....do they think I'm a boy racer in a fart can or what? ......I'm just going to use toothpaste and an old toothbrush ......product my arse......

They are easy to polish up with toothpaste, autosol, or colourcut, but once done they will decline more rapidly, because the UV coating has been removed. I would like to know what UV coating works.

Yacht varnish?

Clear self adhesive window film?

dennis@home used his keyboard to write :

They are polycarb I think, so what ever used needs to not attack that material - could be expensive if it does make a headlight lens craze.

Mine are sort of OK, but could do with a polish up. I bought a kit, which included sachets of some cream which was supposed to retard the hazing.

I would be tempted to try Foam Gun Cleaner, which is acetone.

I use this on my white upvc windows when spiders and other insects leave brown stain marks.

Seems to work a treat.

It happens that dennis@home formulated :

Thanks, but all those just report the immediate result. I am more interested in how well it lasts, the UV protection.

I can get my lens back to gleaming with what I have at the moment, I have done it before, but given a few months they are as bad again due to lack of UV protection.

Really bad advice to put acetone on polycarbonate. Google it.

When my car failed the MOT for having no discernible beam pattern ("We can fit new ones for you ...") I decided to first thoroughly clean the lenses before getting stuck in with the wet and dry. One of the cleaners I had to hand was sugar soap, and to my surprise it significantly reduced the haziness, such that a quick rub over with metal polish had the beams nice and crisp. I think the guys at the garage were surprised to see me back so soon.

I see several different early Focuses with cloudy lights each year for their tests, after a normal wash of the lights I use a lump of body clay and dilute detergent to clean them, then Mcguirs RX headlight polish, they all respond well to this every year, and it is very quick to do. What I do notice is that the residue of the cleaning has a green tinge to it, so I wonder if it is some sort of algae that grows on the lens?

Someone on youtube swears by cleaning the plastic with wet-and-dry ultra-fine grade then just covering the lens with clingfilm.

when that gets mucky, peel it off and stick some more clingfilm on.

Andrew wrote in news:qh7i1c$vh0$2 @gioia.aioe.org:

I tried all sorts, but when my car came back from passing its MOT the garage had cleared it using T-CUT and WATER. Should have asked them sooner.

I will try r=that on the next one that is convenient.

In message , Jim S writes

I would have thought that well-thinned T-Cut would work - and I guess that Brasso or Silvo would work too.

Mine came up pretty well using standard domestic "cream cleaner". Using a felt wheel on a variable cordless speed angle grinder I found it easy enough to avoid melting by keeping the speed down and not using the corner of the pad (on the Master there is plenty of "lens" that is just over decorative chrome, so you can check your technique on this region). But, the cheap pads are rather "bumpy" so it isn't very easy to do. I finished them off by hand, but that was quite hard work.

But I'm sure they were grateful. ;-)

Just had delivery today of a disk with about 24 square felt pads around the rim, set overlapping (if you know what I mean). There are abrasive paper disks designed a bit like this too. From a quick trial on a spare piece of perspex, this looks as though it will be good on headlights.

Ian Jackson formulated on Wednesday :

Absolutely any fine abrasive polish will bring the lens up.

There used to be something called 'Jewellers Rouge'